Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 15, 1995                   TAG: 9507170058
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOSCOW                                 LENGTH: Medium

YELTSIN TO REMAIN IN HOSPITAL; HEALTH QUESTIONS PERSIST

President Boris Yeltsin set the date for parliamentary elections from his hospital room Friday, but questions about his health persisted after aides said his stay would be extended.

Yeltsin will remain at the Central Clinical Hospital - where he was rushed Tuesday with acute heart trouble - through the end of next week, top aide Viktor Ilyushin told reporters.

Ilyushin said Yeltsin's schedule through July 26 would be postponed, including a two-day visit to Norway.

``Doctors demand persistently that Boris Nikolayevich spend longer recovering after his unexpected hospitalization,'' Ilyushin said in an interview with Russian television channels. ``There are many events ahead until the end of the year that will require serious psychological and nervous tension.''

Earlier, the Kremlin had predicted the 64-year-old Yeltsin would be released Monday and would stick to his schedule. Ilyushin said the change did not reflect a worsening of the president's condition.

``It wouldn't be right to say the Kremlin office has just moved into the building of the Central Clinical Hospital, but the president is aware of all the vital and acute issues which require his attention,'' Ilyushin said.

Yeltsin's symptoms, as described by the Kremlin, indicate he probably has a form of heart disease called unstable angina, in which the arteries narrow, restricting the flow of blood to the heart. Press reports have been skeptical of the Kremlin's health updates.

The first photograph of the hospitalized Yeltsin was released Friday. It showed the president, wearing a tennis shirt, sitting impassively at a desk with papers in front of him and four telephones to the side.

Naina Yeltsin told reporters Friday her husband was working and signing documents. She criticized the press for spreading ``tall tales'' about Yeltsin's health.

``I can't see this verbal sadism in the newspapers any longer,'' she said, calling the presidency a ``very heavy burden.''

Yeltsin's popularity is low, and he recently fought back a major parliamentary challenge to his government. Ilyushin said the crisis took a toll on Yeltsin, as has the war in breakaway Chechnya.

Yeltsin has not said whether he will run in presidential elections scheduled for June.